However, Greenpeace has released a statement criticizing Shell for as the spill -- the worst in the UK for 10 years -- was not publicly acknowledged by the company for not releasing details of the leak earlier:

If Shell can't prevent an oil spill in the 'ultra safe' North Sea, we have to ask how they'll manage in the pristine wilderness of the Arctic, where extreme conditions mean that any oil spill would be all but impossible to clean up?

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has released a statement that says that while the spill is still small compared to last year's spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- which eventually hit 4.9 million barrels -- it is still "substantial".